Worse Than A Cure
by TheNumber1Hero
Summary: It started out as a typical boring Saturday for three high school students. Duncan went to his weekend internship while Zoey spent the morning getting Rythian up and out of his bed. Yes, everything was absolutely normal until science went wrong an the world began ending quicker than the three teens could fight it. -Full Summary Inside- (A Yogscast Apocalypse AU) Rated M for Safety.


**Full Summary: It started out as a typical boring Saturday for the three high school students. Duncan went to his weekend internship while Zoey spent the morning getting Rythian up and out of his bed. Yes, everything was absolutely normal until science went wrong an the world began ending quicker than the three teens could fight it. Rythian Enderborn, Zoey Proasheck and Duncan Jones were sent spiraling into what everyone called the Apocalypse. **

_AN: __Hey so I had this idea for a Yogscast Apocalypse AU where the actual characters went through it and not the actual Yogscast. It's mainly going to be centered around Duncan, Rythian and Zoey but the other Yogscast members will appear later on. _

_If you visit a website called Wattpad I have the story up there too. You can read it here (remember to remove all the spaces): www . wattpad story / 7861023 -worse -than -a -cure _

_Well, I hope you enjoy this. Happy reading._

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Mages and Internships**

It started out as a incredibly bland day for everyone. So incredibly normal, that Duncan Jones wasn't aware he had two different colored socks on once again. Yes, as he walked into the skyscraper like building run by Sci-corp everything was absolutely one hundred percent boring. Though, isn't that how all these types of stories start?

Duncan Jones, the name fits so perfectly with an average high school student that just happened to have a normal internship during his senior year. At least, that's what I would like to say as it would make this story much shorter and much less painful. Sadly, Duncan Jones is beyond smart. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have the job to uncover the disaster that was about to shake his world.

You see, Duncan worked at Sci-corp a powerful company dedicated to everything scientific. They did everything from discovering new elements to making cures for diseases that everyone thought were death-sentences. Duncan here just so happened to work in the Technology department, which is where this story begins.

* * *

The blonde haired teen sighed as he looked at the screen once more. This was all wrong. When he inputted the data the output came out all skewed and wrong.

"Some idiot must have wired the hard-drive incorrectly. Now I'm going to have to re-wire just because they were being lazy," the teenage scientist grumbled to himself. He began to turn the hard-drive around so he could get a good look at the wires but was quickly interrupted as his pager decided to buzz.

Sighing again, he pulled it off his belt to see where he was needed.

Even though his I.Q. had secured him a department to work in and pretty much solidified his chances of getting a job here in college, he was still an intern. Interns ran errands for other departments and the fact that he was still in high school meant he was stuck doing them. No one could bend the rules even for their smartest employee, which happened to be a certain Duncan Jones.

Duncan pulled himself out of his thoughts when the needy department's name began flashing on the tiny screen. Duncan strained to see it in the dark room but his eyes soon adjusted. It of course read "medical" as the young scientist had guessed. Recently they had been paging him a lot, as their computers constantly kept breaking and in one case was smashed to pieces.

"If they don't start taking care of their computers I swear I'm going to report every single last one of them," the blonde haired teen grumbled as he pulled the goggles that had been placed over his eyes, up on his head. With one last bored sigh and a look to the miss-wired computer that said 'you're next', Duncan left the room and headed for the medical department's floor.

* * *

Rythian Enderborn awoke to a brightly lit room. He scrunched his face and tried to cover his face with his pillow, that is, until he figured out that it was missing from under his head. Slowly a knowing smirk started to spread on his face. There was only one person that had keys to his apartment and would do something like this.

Rythian slowly got up and went over to his closet. He noted that his pillows weren't the only things missing from his bed as his covers had disappeared too. They weren't even lying on the floor like they normally were when his red haired friend took them.

"_She must have removed them completely from the room," _he thought as he pulled on some jeans and a seemingly new long-sleeve black shirt. The purple-eyed teen then made his way over to the lone hook on the wall that held his beloved purple scarf.

He pulled it off the hook, wrapping it around his neck ever so elegantly and making sure it also covered his mouth. After he made his way over to his bedroom door he opened it only to be hit with the wonderful smell of something cooking in his apartment kitchen. His mouth watered as he walked down the hall.

"Zoey, my covers and pillows suddenly disappeared this morning. You didn't happen to see any trolls taking them, did you," he asked her jokingly as he entered the kitchen. Zoeya Proasheck, other known as Zoey, turned around smiling as she held a spatula in her hand.

"Actually, now that you reminded me they came running down the hall earlier this morning with all your bedding. They said something along the lines of you being naught for not waking up on time. After they placed all your stuff in the closet over there they disappeared in a puff of smoke," she said joking back. Rythian couldn't hold in his laugh and soon Zoey had joined in giggling. When all had quieted down Rythian corrected Zoey on her troll know-how.

"Trolls can't disappear in puffs of smoke but nice try," Rythian corrected her while he sat down at the counter behind the stove. Zoey turned back around to flip the omelet that she was cooking.

"Just because we don't have school today doesn't mean you can sit on your bum all day. You should do something productive like help me with my vegetable garden," she suggest happily.

"Alright, but if I do that you're going to have to go over your lesson about trolls with me again."

She groaned as she put the omelet on a plate. "Rythian you know I'm bad with magic. I'm never going to be as good at it as you are."

Rythian just gave her an encouraging smile that seemed to say 'yes you will' before levitating the omelet filled plate to the counter in front of him. As he did this Zoey didn't even blink an eye, after all, she was used to it by now. She remembered when she first met her purple-eyed best friend. That also happened to be the day she figured he was surely very gifted.

* * *

Zoey rushed through the wet streets on her way home. She must have taken a wrong turn because as she ran civilization seemed to get more and more sparse. Soon she has no idea where she was and how to get back. Her phone was dead and she had no money for a payphone or she would have called her parents to pick her up. As she though about her horrible luck she suddenly heard a door to one of the houses slam open. Three men started to walk out but before she could politely ask for directions one of them spoke.

"Hey little chica," he said with a deep slur. Zoey crinkled her nose as she realized the men were drunk. As they got closer Zoey became more and more panicked. She could smell the beer on the men as if they bathed in the stuff. Slowly, she started to walk away in hopes that they would just leaver her alone but of course, luck was never on her clumsy side. They started to follow her more closely, calling her horrible names. She needed to get out of here and quickly before they made do on their disgusting threats.

* * *

Not to far from the scene of Zoey's torment sat a young, purple-eyed teen in his car. A couple months ago he had been messing around with a spell that just so happened to find other mages.

Although, when he casted it he was certain he wouldn't find anyone. He was one certainly proved wrong though when the alchemy map he had drawn, burned for a moment revealing a red spot. Under the spot read 'Zoeya Proasheck: low power'. After he read her name he quickly made a psychic link from the unique energy signal that must have been her magical aura. This way, he would vaguely know where she was at all times.

Ever since then he had loosely followed her in secret. The more he watched the more he learned. He wasn't being a creep he just wanted to protect her. As far as he could tell she had no idea she had the gift of magic. If anything he wanted her to never know as he knew it would make her life much less happy. It had destroyed his life and he was determined to keep it from destroying this girl's life as well.

As he sat in his car he suddenly sensed her fear and desperation. He knew instantly something was wrong as he noticed those feelings weren't his. They were the fiery red head's, which meant something was wrong. He turned on his car, revving up the engine, and zooming off towards her. He hoped he wouldn't be too late to help her in the events unfolding before her.

* * *

As she started to run she didn't notice the two other men get in front on her. She ran into them with a thud and fell to the ground. Her purse contents scattering but she was too busy watching in horror as she was picked up harshly. Zoey Proasheck let out a curdling scream hoping someone would hear her even though she knew that no one would.

"What's wrong chica? You're being ungrateful. My pals and I are being generous by inviting you into our home." Zoey quivered as she waited for the unavoidable torture to come. However it never did as in that moment she was suddenly released. She landed on her knees painfully and wondered why the man had suddenly let her go. He seemed to be wondering the same as he kept sharing confused glances between Zoey and his hands.

The sound of a car door opening and closing suddenly resounded onto the street. Zoey peeked behind her former captor to see a handsome man standing closely by his sleek silver car. He looked to be around Zoey's age but it was hard to tell as an extremely long scarf cleverly hid his nose and mouth. Zoey also noticed that he seemed to have a streak of lighter brown hair on the top of his head that deeply contrasted with the rest of his dark brown. The last thing she noticed was his eyes. They were a deep purple that Zoey would think were natural if she hadn't listened in her biology class.

It was rare to get purple eyes, as it was a genetic disorder that could only appear in women. Though as she knew this information she couldn't bring herself to think they were contacts. Contacts didn't give off a ghostly glow like his eyes were doing. Something definitely seemed unnatural about this guy.

Slowly, Zoey realized the last important detail. The man's left arm was outstretched and his hand was balled into a fist, as if he was mentally holding something from a distance. As if he was waiting for Zoey to notice his hand, he suddenly started to glide it to his left. At the exact same time the man who had been holding Zoey also slid to the left. He became increasingly more panicked until the purple-eyed stranger finally released him. Once the drunken man was he wasted no time stumbling away as fast as he could.

"Now boys," he said smoothly to the remaining drunkards, "I don't think you're giving this lady much of a fair fight." Zoey noted that his voice was deep but still had a young sounding quality to it.

"Back off she's ours," exclaimed the drunkard that was most likely the head leader and the owner of the house that the men had gotten drunk at.

"Oh well there's no need to be rude," he said with what Zoey could only describe as a fake calm. His left hand shot up again and quickly balled into a fist. The man quickly tensed up as if some giant hand had suddenly wrapped its fingers around him. The mysterious scarf covered young man slowly began raising his fist into the air.

As he did this, the drunken man began to rise as well. At first he was frozen in fear but then after being raised a good meter upwards, he began to scream. Zoey just sat stock still as the remaining grounded drunkard escaped as swiftly as he could in fear.

"It looks like your friends left you here all alone to face punishment. I guess you'll just have to take the place of their punishments as well. How do you suppose I go about these punishments?" Whatever had been keeping Zoey silent suddenly snapped as she quickly stood up.

"Put him down," she demanded with a sort of force she didn't know she had. Zoey didn't know if demanding that had been s smart move but she wasn't about be become a witness to a crime scene. She also didn't exactly know the reasons for the stranger stepping in and saving her. For all she knew they could be for far worse reasons than what that drunken men had been planning.

The powerful teen looked at her in surprise but it soon turned into a gaze of respect. Zoey could have sworn she also saw a hint of relief but it was gone so fast she couldn't tell. Unhurriedly he lowered his fist and unclenched it, giving a glare to the drunken man once he was set down. As soon as the drunkard's feet had traction he stumbled off as fast as he could.

The scarf covered teen cautiously approached Zoey as if he was afraid any sudden movement would scare her away. He had a valid reason to in Zoey's opinion.

"I'm sorry if that was scary for you but before you run away you might want to pick up all your stuff," he said with obvious nervousness as she squatted down next to her. Whatever deadly self-confidence and fearlessness he had moments ago had melted away.

"What's your name," Zoey asked as she gathered up her purse's contents.

"Uh," Rythian said dumbfounded that the fiery red head hadn't run away yet.

"It's Rythian Enderborn. Yours?"

"My name's Zoey, Zoey Proasheck." Rythian seemed to smile at the name under his scarf. Though Zoey couldn't see it she had a sort of intuition that it was there.

"So, uh, how did you do that," Zoey asked. Rythian's purple eyes looked down.

"It was magic. Not the fake kind either. I'm one of the pretty much extinct people that can still use real magic. As far as I know I'm the only one left."

"Really?!" Zoey's eyes lit up and a smile appeared on her face, as she didn't seem to grasp the sadness of the sentence. She was more excited about the magic he could do and not the implications of it all.

Rythian gave her a confused look, as he wasn't used to this type of reaction. He replied in an equally confused sounding voice, "uh… Yes?"

Zoey didn't seem to notice the young man's discomfort, or if she did she was ignoring it.

"What else can you do," she asked curiously. Rythian looked to the side as if he was trying to escape all the attention. He then put his hand behind her ear. As he pulled it back Zoey noticed a stone mushroom sitting on his once empty palm. He offered it to her and she yet again could tell he was smiling underneath his mask.

"I love it. Mushrooms happen to be my favorite plant you know." Zoey took the stone mushroom and as soon as she did the purple-eyed Rythian stood up. He then offered her his hand, which she took. Though, not before storing her mushroom safely in her purse.

"If you don't mind me asking, where do you live? I would rather not have you walking back to your place alone," he asked once she was standing.

"Are you offering me a ride," Zoey questioned shakily as she was slightly nervous about getting into the car with him. Even though he seemed like a nice guy she really didn't know anything about him other than his name and the fact he could use real magic.

"Well, yeah. I mean I understand if you don't want to. After all we know nothing about each other but personally I think it's safer then betting for your safety out here," he said as he opened the passenger side door of his car and kindly gesturing for her to get in.

"Fair point," Zoey said as she scrunched her face in defeat. She would have called for her parents to pick her up but the inability to do so had gotten her into this mess into the first place. Zoey sighed and walked over to Rythian so she could climb into his car.

Once she was next to the door Rythian moved and Zoey got in. The purple-eyed teen shut the door behind her and got in himself. Revving up the car, he took off down the road. Zoey watched as the bad part of town melted away and the city became more prominent.

"So your address," Rythian asked out of no-where. Zoey jumped slightly in the chair as his sudden question startled her. What could she say? She had been through a scary night. Zoey thought she deserved to be nervous around any guy for a while. Though oddly the more she sat in the vicinity of Rythian the more at ease she felt. It also helped that he was the one driving her closer to the safe part of civilization.

"Zoey? Are you all right? I just asked you for your address again. You didn't answer," Rythian said sounding concerned as he glanced quickly at her.

"_Had he asked me again? I guess I didn't notice,"_ Zoey thought to herself.

"Yeah I'm sorry. I'm just a little shaken up after what happened tonight. My address is 11727 Rango Lane in Blackrock View." Rythian pressed a button on the steering wheel and the car asked for an address. Rythian repeated what the red head had said and a map lit up on the dashboard. Zoey hadn't noticed until now but the car was rather fancy for a high school student.

For the reminder of the car ride they sat in silence though Rythian would occasionally glance at her to make sure she was all right. Once they were finally in Zoey's neighborhood the fiery red head let out a breath she wasn't aware that she had been holding. The familiarity of the place had settled the rest of her anxious nerves. All except the nerves that dealt with her parents.

"What am I going to tell them," she asked herself as she tried to calm her nervousness. They were no doubt going to want to meet Rythain after she steps out of his car.

"We're here," said the person that Zoey just so happened to be thinking about. He had said those two words in such a clam voice. If Zoey were him she would have been shaking from the though of meeting her father.

Though, Rythian had no reason to, as she hadn't told him anything about her parents. Zoey watched as Rythian made his way out of his car and opened the door for her. If this had been a date Zoey would be falling head over heels for him and his manners but this wasn't.

She shakily grabbed her purse and stepped out of the sleek vehicle. As if on cue her parents came bursting out of the house, worried expressions on their faces as they rushed over. She also caught some glares from her father that were aimed at Rythian. Zoey's mother was the first to get there. She wrapped her daughter in a tight hug and Zoey could have sworn she heard her mom biting back a sob.

"Oh Zoeya Proasheck where have you been? It's four hours after the time you were supposed to be home. Your father and I were so worried," Mrs. Proasheck said sounding as if she was trying not to go into hysterics.

Zoey's father came up next to them, giving Rythian a glare as he voiced his thoughts. "You better not have been late because of this boy here Zoeya."

Rythian's face scrunched up. He turned his head slightly and by his face Zoey could tell he wanted to tell her parents what had happened. She slightly nodded her head in agreement and he got the hint.

"Actually Mr. Proasheck, Zoey here got in a lot of trouble with some drunk men tonight." Zoey's mother gasped and let go of her daughter. She checked her over making sure there wasn't a scratch on her.

"Zoey, they didn't do anything to you did they," the motherly women asked her daughter. The young red head shook her head in a 'no' before speaking up.

"No but they would have if Rythian hadn't driven by when he did. I got lost walking home and before I knew it those men had come out of their home. They grabbed me before I could get away. Rythian-," Zoey stopped. She couldn't tell them what Rythian had actually done. They would think she had finally gone mad even if it was from the horror of the situation she had just been in.

She already went to a therapist after her parents had figured out that their daughter believed she could talk to mushrooms. Zoey gave a quick glance to Rythian and noticed he was giving her a pleading look. He wanted her to leave out the magic details too.

"What about Rythian," Mrs. Proasheck asked her daughter. Concern seemed to be creeping into her voice, as she must have been imagining the worst.

"Uh, he pulled them off of me. I'm sorry. I got caught up in what they could have done to me."

"Why didn't you just call? Your father and I were worried sick. We could have gotten you," Zoey's mother said, sounding as if she was trying not to cry.

"Her phone was out of power and she had no money on her for a pay-phone," Rythian said. He was finally speaking up after watching the two women's conversation.

"You must be Rythian right," asked Mr. Proasheck. Rythian respectfully nodded at the question Zoey's father had asked him.

"What were you exactly doing on that street? You don't seem like you would live there." Rythian started to get a little nervous. He couldn't tell them how he found her. One he would seem crazy and two, he would seem like a creeper.

"Uh well, I was actually heading to a out of the way book store. I found her while I was on my way there." Mr. Proasheck nodded, accepting the answer he was given.

"How did you get those men off of her? They must have been big" Zoey's mother stated. Rythian wracked his mind for an explanation to this question.

"Well, I actually know a bit of karate. I just had to find their center point so I could flip them off of her."

"Thanking you for bringing her home safely. You are welcome here anytime and I'm sorry for my rude actions earlier," said Zoey's father.

"Don't worry about it Mr. Proasheck. If it were my daughter coming home after curfew with a complete stranger, I would have acted the same way. You don't have to thank me either. All I did was do the correct thing in this given situation." Mr. Proasheck offered his hand to Rythian and he shook it. The girls had finally let go of their hug and Rythian was happy to see Zoey looked much better.

"Have you had dinner yet Rythian? Why don't you come in and have some with us? I made too much mushroom stew and pork shops anyway," said Zoey's mother with a smile on her face.

"Sure I would love to Mrs. Proasheck," was his reply as he followed the family into their home.

* * *

Zoey was pulled out of her memories as Rythian pulled down his scarf. A feat he only did when he was eating or sleeping. On his face, starting at his collarbone and his shoulder blade were black lines of various thicknesses etched into his skin. They stopped just at his cheekbone, never reaching his nose but definitely crossing over the far right side of his lips.

Once, when she had asked about it, he stated that it was from an accident with magic. Zoey knew that he wasn't telling the full truth though as she had done some of her own research to find out the meanings of the black markings. Unknown to Rythian, Zoey had figured out they were caused by consistent use of Dark magic. Dark magic just happened to be the only thing Rythian refused to teach her even if she was his apprentice.

The book she had found the startling information in never specified what spells caused the dark markings but it did say something about them being classified as a 'slow effect curse'. Zoey had no idea what that had meant but she did know that it didn't sound good.

The purple-eyed mage quickly scarfed down his food while Zoey was thinking. He usually ate quickly so that his markings weren't visible for too long. All too soon the scarf was back over his face and he was bringing his plate over to the sink.

"Why don't we tend to your garden first Zoey? We can go back over your lesson on trolls later," said Rythian as he put the dish in the dishwasher. Zoey smiled at him as she was finished thinking about her mysterious friend.

"Alright, I'll be waiting at the door. Don't take too long or the mushrooms might wither. Barry gets very impatient if he's not watered on time," said the red head as she bounded out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and over to Rythian's apartment door. Rythian just chuckled slightly to himself as he found his shoes and quickly slipped them on.

"Zoey's crazy but she's definitely my kind of crazy, " Rythian thought as he walked over to his door. He politely opened it for his friend and they both headed to his car to tend to the waiting Barry.

Rythian Enderborn and Zoeya Proasheck had no idea they would not be visiting that apartment again in an exceedingly long time.

* * *

Duncan Jones found himself in an Elevator heading to the Medical floor. He was just couldn't wait to see what type of damage the broken equipment was going to be in this time. He rolled his eyes as a 'ding' was heard and the doors opened. The hallway was dark which was odd because 2 pm was usually the busiest time on this floor. As he walked further down the hallway the motion activated lights flicked on. No one was in the hallway and the usually noisy rooms were silent.

"Did Sci-corp given everyone on this floor off? That can't be right though because if they did, who buzzed for me," Duncan whispered to himself in the creepily empty hallway. Soon he had reached the end off the hallway. There was a door in front of him that was cracked slightly open. It shouldn't have been though as on this floor the doors where locked by keycards and everyone was supposed to shut them when they left. Duncan was torn. He wanted to go in and see what was there but then he also had an instinctual feeling that was saying 'turn around'.

Taking a deep breath he chose the first one and gently pushed on the door. It creaked but other than that opened fine. The young intern stepped into the room and the lights instantly flickered on. What Duncan saw in that room was never going to be unseen by him. Blood was everywhere. It was on the walls, on the floors, and splattered all over different types of equipment in the room. Oddly enough though, there were no bodies, which unnerved Duncan more than the blood.

As Duncan was turning to run out of the room though, something caught his eye next to his foot. He slowly bent down and picked it up only to realize it was a pager. Though what made him drop it and flee the building was what it said.

The unsent message read, "To: Intern Duncan- Don't get help just escape with your life."


End file.
